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Baby won't take bottle

Hi Ladies,

I am a stay at home mom who is going to occasionally pump for times that I will be away from my little one (maybe 2-3 times a month). My little one is 9 weeks old. I successfully pumped this past week 10 oz for a night that I would be away for several hours this weekend. My husband was watching our little one while I was away and tried to give her a bottle. He was able to give her 2 oz of the EBM but he said a lot of it "went down her face." He mentioned that she wasn't able to latch on to the nipple like the breast and just sucked on the nipple itself. She was starting to get fussy and eventually did not continue to take the bottle. He tried again an hour later and she didn't want anything to do with it. Luckily I wasn't too far away and was able to come back and nurse her =). My question to you ladies is if you think this problem was partly the bottle or the technique? The nipple on the bottle is a slow flow nipple. I also have a medela bottle and playtex nurser drop in I was going to try and use as well. Any recommendations on how to feed her or nipples to use? I would really like her to be able to take a bottle every now and then!

Re: Baby won't take bottle

1st, I'd try again a few more times, sometimes it just takes repetition.

2nd - a different style nipple may be all you need. I started out using the born free bottles that have a somewhat wide mouth. The nipples are fairly wide at the base which lets him open his mouth pretty wide, and it seemed to be a very easy transition for my guy. Now that he's used to that he uses some narrower nipples (like the ones that come with the medela bottles) and he seems OK with that too, but I'm not sure he'd have had an easy time with those if they were the first ones I tried.

There are some really cool bottles/nipples out there, so it may take a little experimentation but you'll probably find one that works for her.

This one looks interesting to me, the shape looks like it would let a baby get a nice wide open mouth on it.

Re: Baby won't take bottle

It was her first time.... Bound to not understand it. It's a diff technique of sucking. My lil one still struggles trying to suck on it like he would on me and takes a while to realize it's not me but rather a bottle. Give her a few practice times before you are away and have a back up alternative to feed her like cup or spoon or syringe.

Can't stop smiling because my lil Miguel is just so amazing! Since 1/29/12 my heart is no longer my own!

Re: Baby won't take bottle

Try again before buying anything else. If she still doesn't take it try a different nipple. Some babies take a couple different tries before they like one. I went back to work at two months and I used Tommie tippee. Luckily my DD took the bottle after a couple of tries. I like TT because it really opens their mouth like the breast. They don't make it easy for them. They are a little more expensive than the other bottles but DD is 11 months and still uses them. Takes one bottle a day the rest is breast and she never had any confusion.

Re: Baby won't take bottle

I have a 6 week old DD and the only bottle I have been able to get her to take is Tommie Tippee also. It is more breast-like than most I have come across. My DH also had to hold DD kind of on her side, just as if she was nursing. She needed to be facing his body to take the bottle. Also, he made sure the nipple was warm before giving it to her. Good luck; don't give up!

Re: Baby won't take bottle

The bottle that we used was a Tommie Tippee so I'm glad that it worked for you! We are going to try it out again but this time I am going to watch to see what happens! Wish me luck! Thanks for your help!

Re: Baby won't take bottle

Best of luck!

Soemthing that isn't nipple related at all, but my husband noticed that if the BM isn't warm enough, our daughter will gag, cough, choke, and then refuse the bottle (she is almost 7 weeks). However, if he rewarms it just a bit, she takes it like a champ! I mentioned it to our babysitter, and sure enough, the same thing worked for her. Just another something to maybe consider.